Jim Harbaugh tries to temper the enthusiasm about his rapidly improving team. After Michigan’s latest win, though, the coach couldn’t help but heap praise.

“The fellas really came out ballin’ right from the start,” Harbaugh said.

Jehu Chesson returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, and the 18th-ranked Wolverines scored on offense and defense to build a four-touchdown lead by halftime in a 38-0 victory over No. 13 Northwestern on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“Great performance by them in all three phases,” Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

Michigan (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) has won five straight since its opening loss at Utah under Harbaugh, building momentum going into a showdown at home next weekend against No. 4 Michigan State.

“We’ll move on even more quickly than usual because it is such a good and worthy opponent,” Harbaugh said. “And, we’ll be looking forward to it.”

The Wildcats (5-1, 1-1) were giving up a nation-low seven points a game and gave that up in the first 13 seconds. They allowed a season-high 21 points in the first quarter and struggled on offense, too.

Michigan became the first FBS school to shut out three straight opponents since Kansas State did it in 1995, according to STATS, and pulled off the feat for the first time in program history since 1980.

“Yeah, it’s very meaningful,” Harbaugh said.

The Wolverines scored TDs on a kickoff return, interception and offense for the first time since 1991 at Boston College, according to STATS.

The Wildcats, who came in averaging a Big Ten-best 248.8 yards on the ground, were held to 38.

Texas bounces back

Charlie Strong put a gold cowboy hat on his head and flashed a huge smile filled with relief, joy and vindication. If the previous week’s beat down at TCU was rock bottom for Strong at Texas, his first victory against rival Oklahoma might be what changes the trajectory of his program.

Or maybe it was just a temporary respite for the beleaguered Longhorns and their coach. Regardless, the 24-17 win against the 10th-ranked Sooners in Dallas was no ordinary victory for Texas.

“We heard all week how the pride has been lost. How we don’t play hard,” Strong said. “And I don’t have an answer for last week (TCU 50, Texas 7). … This week we came out and we wanted to impose our will. We wanted to play physical and watch our team just go to work.”

The linemen lifted Strong off the ground during the celebration and tossed him in the air before he got to lift the Golden Hat Trophy that goes to the winner of the Red River Rivalry.

“I think they said they didn’t want to see me get fired, so they were going to step up and play for me,” Strong said with a laugh.

Georgia’s Chubbs injured

It was a painful defeat for Georgia, which couldn’t hold a 21-point lead and lost 38-31 to host Tennessee and also lost star running back Nick Chubb to a left-knee injury on the team’s first offensive play. Coach Mark Richt was unsure after the game about the severity of Chubb’s injury, but the back looked to be in a lot of pain when being treated by trainers.

“As of right now we’re still pretty hopeful that it won’t require surgery, but we’re not 100 percent sure of that,” Richt said.

Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs passed for 312 yards, ran for 118 and accounted for five TDs.

Huskers’ familiar finish

Nebraska has lost four games this season, all on the final play by its opponent. Rafael Gaglianone made a 46-yard field goal with four seconds left after missing from 39 yards just over a minute earlier, giving Wisconsin a 23-21 victory Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers had taken the lead with 3:38 left on fullback Andy Janovich’s 55-yard touchdown run.

“I don’t think I’ve really seen this before,” first-year coach Mike Riley said. Nebraska (2-4) is off to its worst start since 1959.

“We said from day one that you’ve got to expect the unexpected, and we really didn’t think that we would have a season like this,” Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. said.

LSU star steps up

Leonard Fournette had his least productive game this season, but the LSU running back still ran 87 yards for a touchdown and finished with 158 yards in 20 carries while playing just three quarters of a 45-24 victory against South Carolina. And afterward, he reached out to fans of his opponent.

Fournette said in a postgame interview that he hoped to auction his game jersey to raise money for flood victims in South Carolina. After the question was raised if that would be an NCAA violation, the NCAA tweeted that Fournette could auction the jersey for flood victims.

“I just wanted to help out the families or people out there,” said Fournette, a New Orleans native whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina a decade ago.

The relocated game was like none seen before at LSU. The Gamecocks were technically the home team in Baton Rouge.

With the decision to move the game coming on Wednesday, there were barely three days to sell tickets, and attendance was 42,058, leaving vast areas of empty seats in a stadium that can hold 102,000. Tigers fans, who normally boo visiting teams as they enter the stadium, applauded the Gamecocks before and after the game.

With the loss, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier fell to 0-4 in the SEC for the first time in his career, which includes 23 seasons at Florida and South Carolina.

Big numbers

Trevone Boykin threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns, the second a 55-yard strike to Josh Doctson with 1:10 left in the game, to help No. 2 TCU rally from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat Kansas State 52-45.

Patrick Mahomes threw for 428 yards and five touchdowns to lead Texas Tech to a 66-31 rout of Iowa State. Redshirt freshman Mike Warren ran 23 times for 245 yards for the Cyclones.